Mom Lip Syncing At UMD Game Says Son Was '100 Percent Horrified'

A mom whose lip syncing at the University of Maryland basketball game has been viewed more than 150,000 times on the Terps Facebook page says she had no idea that she was on camera. She was doing what she usually does, and the result — including her son hiding in his hoodie to escape the spotlight with his embarrassing mom — has entertained everyone from their friends and neighbors to Kelly Clarkson, whose song "Since You've Been Gone" was what she jammed out to at the game.

"I can't carry a tune. I don't harmonize. I'm not a singer — but I lip sync to everything," Mandy Remmell told Patch Wednesday night.

She was with her son at the Terps game on Tuesday, Dec. 11, when a Karaoke Cam was in the crowd panning over the fans.

"The girl three rows in front of me was singing her heart out, and I was just singing to myself because I love to sing and I love to dance," said Remmell. "I was singing, and my son gave me the look like 'You're on the Jumbotron.'"

Later on in the evening, Remmell said a woman came up to her and told her she got video of the lip syncing. That was the first she saw of it. By Wednesday night, more than 150,000 people had also viewed the footage, which the Maryland Terrapins posted on the team's Facebook page.

Watch it here:

Her son — Blake, age 10 — was "100 percent horrified," Remmell said.

"We got to school this morning, and we turned in the parking lot, and he was like, 'Do not start singing,'" Remmell recalled. "I would say he's still embarrassed. You only become 'cool' mom when your kid turns like 21 to 25. That's when they look back and say, 'My mom is cool.'"

Singer Kelly Clarkson gave Remmell a shout-out on Wednesday, Dec. 12, tweeting: "This is my kind of mama."

When someone told her about the tweet while she was at work — Remmell is a special projects coordinator in health care — she said: "I could not believe that." Remmell said she was just being herself. "Life's too serious," she told Patch, noting Clarkson's music helps bring out her inner songstress.

"When her songs come on, they have so much power and passion behind them, you can't help but sing along," Remmell said. "She is a 100 percent real artist, real human. She’s not full of plastic, and that comes through in her music."

This is my kind of mama #ThatKidIsNotHavinIt https://t.co/eGCxTKYAsv
— Kelly Clarkson (@kelly_clarkson) December 12, 2018

Blake is in fifth grade, and his mother said that going to the game was a way of doing something fun together.

"There are times where you need to be serious, and there are times when you can just take a step back and enjoy life," said Remmell. "That's what we were doing going to the Terps game."

Her husband was working late — he's in the package delivery business and had to be on the job in the evening due to the holidays, she said. It was the first time she had been to a Maryland basketball game.

"I love watching the Terps, and I love basketball in general," she said. "You like to root for your home team — Maryland Terps, Baltimore Orioles, Baltimore Ravens," said Remmell, who grew up in Baltimore County and lives near Arbutus.

Her son is a basketball fan too and plays for Catonsville Rec leagues, she said.

Since their moment on the Jumbotron, they have been featured in USA Today, The Washington Post, ABC7, WJZ and will be featured on "Good Morning DC" on Thursday, Dec. 13.

"It’s funny because I'm not an in-the-spotlight kind of person. I've never had any spotlight. I'm very much social but the spotlight's never been my thing," she said.

And even though Blake may seem mortified by his singing mom, Remmell said: "It’s not traumatizing. It's fun and light and airy," stating: "He will remember that forever."

Photo courtesy of Mandy Remmell.